Malaysia clinched the sixth spot in this year’s Baseline Profitability Index (BPI), up five notches from last year’s 11th place.
Published by the Foreign Policy Magazine, the BPI is a ranking of destinations of attractiveness for foreign investors.
Among the Asean countries, only Singapore and Malaysia were listed in the top 10. Indonesia took on the 12th spot, Vietnam the 23rd while Philippines and Thailand took on the 30th and 38th place respectively.
“This ranking, which covered 110 countries across six continents reaffirms that Malaysia is an attractive profit centre in this region for investors,” said the Malaysia Investment Development Authority (MIDA) in a statement to Bernama.
MIDA chief executive officer Datuk Azman Mahmud said the endorsement dissolves any lingering misconceptions about the country and attested to its improving economic fundamentals as well as the government’s proactive, pragmatic and prudent policies to diversify and restructure the economy.
“The ranking is a reflection of the continuous improvement in the delivery of public services and overall efficiency of the government machinery.”
It also sends a clear message that the country offers a friendly business environment which makes it an attractive destination to invest.
The BPI utilises a holistic approach based on eight factors which will affect the success of a foreign investment.
These factors include financial stability, economic growth, corruption, physical security, exploitation by local partners, expropriation by government, exchange rates and capital controls.
The BPI calculation also includes the changes made by the World Bank in the measurement of gross domestic product like the revised method to compare living standards among countries.